Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Modern Defense
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 Nc6
The Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Modern Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO D20, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 Nc6. It is a line of the Queen's Gambit Accepted. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 5,292 times by this move order. White won 55%, 4% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 4. Nf3 (45% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.42 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bg4 6. d5 Ne5)
- ECO
- D20
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/ppp1pppp/2n5/8/2pPP3/8/PP3PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 1 4- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 Nc6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 3,563 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,629 | |
| 2000+ | 100 | |
| All | 5,292 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Nf3 | 2,404 (45%) | |
| 4. d5 | 1,845 (35%) | |
| 4. Bxc4 | 620 (12%) | |
| 4. Be3 | 243 (5%) | |
| 4. Nc3 | 135 (3%) | |
| 4. Qa4 | 14 (0%) | |
| 4. Ne2 | 6 (0%) | |
| 4. e5 | 5 (0%) |
Master games
599 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 25%, Black 32%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.28-dev+_69626 (3623) – Stockfish 14_202107131735 (3639) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 21 Superfinal 2021 · 2021-07-27
- Stockfish 14_202107131735 (3639) – LCZero 0.28-dev+_69626 (3623) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 21 Superfinal 2021 · 2021-07-27
- KomodoDragon3.3 (3592) – Seer2.8.0 (3499) 1-0 · TCEC 26 Premier 2024 · 2024-05-05
- Seer2.8.0 (3499) – KomodoDragon3.3 (3592) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Premier 2024 · 2024-05-03
- GM Viswanathan Anand (2785) – GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (2712) 1-0 · 7th Grand Slam Masters · 2014-09-18
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Brokeno_smekla (2708) – IM dmchess007 (2527) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
- FM terrortoast (2602) – Dobryfen (2534) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- Sepuh15 (2591) – FiruzjaFan (2536) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Queen's Gambit Accepted: Saduleto Variation 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4
More Queen's Gambit Accepted lines (all)
- Queen's Gambit Accepted (2. c4 dxc4) D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Accelerated Mannheim Variation D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Alekhine System D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Greco Variation D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, McDonnell Defense D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, McDonnell Defense, Somov Gambit D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Rubinstein Defense D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, Rubinstein Defense, Yefimov Gambit D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Linares Variation D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Old Variation D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Old Variation, Billinger Gambit D20
- Queen's Gambit Accepted: Old Variation, Christensen Gambit D20
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.